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Play with in-app claw machines and win real prizes with arcade app Clawee

Clawee is a mobile app that lets players win real, physical prizes, by controlling in-app machines

Play with in-app claw machines and win real prizes with arcade app Clawee

Have you ever caught a super cute creature in a game and wished it would materialise beside you? Well, now you can create that exact experience with Clawee.

Clawee, developed by Gigantic, is a mobile app that lets players win real, physical prizes, by controlling real claw machines, live, from the comfort of their home, a blessing during a global lockdown. Simply boot up the game, play the live machines from your device, and once you win, a real-life version of the prize you snagged will be shipped to your home. All the fun of the arcade without having to go to one.

PocketGamer.biz caught up Ron Brightman, CEO of Clawee developer Gigantic to talk about Clawee’s development, the inspiration behind the app, and other projects that Gigantic has in the works leading into 2021.

 Can you tell us about Clawee and why you think it was right for mobile?

At Clawee you play real claw machines, Live! Controlling live, physical claw machines creates a very unique and exciting gameplay experience where the user gets to feel the thrill and joy of winning, without the need to go to the arcade center, only by using their phones. On top of that, like in the arcade centers, our players get the prizes that they won delivered to their home.

Tell us about how the prize system works?

We have many types of prizes – from plushies (which are the most popular), to accessories, home goods, novelty and others. When a player catches a prize, they have a few options. They can either claim it and get it delivered to their home; add it to their collection, or exchange it for coins. If they choose to claim the prize, the order is sent to the relevant warehouse where the prize item is located, and then shipped on the spot to the player’s home. All prizes are high quality and we are adding new prizes every day.

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome during development?

When you observe the gaming field, to become a category leader you must create something different, something new, and something that will bring added value to the player. In the field of mixed-reality games, it is all about the user experience, to make it as real as possible, so the player could feel the rush and the excitement while playing. This is why we had a lot of iterations on how to create the live video streaming, as well as how to build, maintain and innovate with real claw machines, in the best way possible. By keeping in mind that the player experience is the most important factor, we hope to continue dominating this vertical and to bring in constant innovation.

How has the studio coped under the Covid-19 pandemic? Did this affect development at all?

In order to make sure that our people are safe and healthy, we divided all company employers into different, completely separated groups. We can carefully say that our system worked and no Covid-19 cases were found. We are lucky and grateful to say that it didn't affect our development in any way.
On the other hand, the pandemic forced most of our players to stay home and refrain from socializing and visiting amusement centers, so our service perfectly helps them get a similar experience, of playing real-life arcade games without having to visit an actual arcade center.

Who do you think is the game's main audience?

Usually women, age 20-50. But we also have many male users, mostly from the US, Canada, UK and Germany.

Is there anything else you would like to mention about Clawee that we haven't touched on?
It is truly exciting and a huge privilege to bring real innovation into the amazing world of mobile games. By understanding the audience and the consumer needs we can provide them the best mixed-reality game possible. We can go on and on about how Clawee is really amazing and brings something new and different but we strongly recommend simply download Clawee from the app store and to experience it for yourself.

What other projects can we expect from Gigantic in the future?

We are currently working to bring another additional new innovation of mixed reality games. We can give you a hint that our new app is already in progress and hopefully will be launched within a couple of months.


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